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Saturday, June 30, 2007

For those of us that just can't be bothered with downloading the Speccy DS emulator and the files needed to play the freeform ZX Spectrum classic Skool Daze on the Nintendo DS, there's a lovely GBA retro remake (complete with lovely graphics) we can download for free and enjoy both on our DS and most obviously on out GBA: Klass of 99. Get it here.

Thursday, June 28, 2007

Someone over @ Siliconera is apparently fluent in Japanese as he/she/it managed to translate this into a most informative post aboutJuushinden: Ultimate Beast Battlers for the Nintendo DS. Before clicking away to find out more, know it's a most interesting card/video game hybrid complete with card reader and smart anime graphics and -happily- has nothing to do with Yu-Gi-Oh.

Wednesday, June 27, 2007

Ratchet and Clank: Size Matters for the Sony PSP is a beautiful and immensely entertaining game. But this, you already know. What you probably aren't aware of though is that besides the brilliant IGN FAQ & walkthrough available right here and the cheats & unlockables collection available here, you can even try downloading one of them spanking new interactive strategy guides. Then again, guess you could always visit GameFaqs too.

Pocket PC gamers may have not been able to enjoy the quality commercial software most other platforms have to offer, but they definitely can't complain about the quality (or quantity) of the freeware games they are constantly getting. Turbo Invaders 2.1 is a prime example of said phenomenon. It's a faithful, yet slightly enhanced, version of the original Space Invaders with pleasing visuals and addictive gameplay. Download it here. It's absolutely free.

The latest upgrade of the Sony PSP firmware was sweeter than the usual semi-regular patching procedure, as installing firmware 3.5 (download it here) unlocked the console's true power turning its 266MHz processor to a way more respectable 333MHz one, but also making homebrew on upgraded systems seem impossible. Thankfully, that's no longer the case. The rich homebrew & freeware library of the PSP can still be accessed.

All you have to do is get yourselves the lovely Lumines game (yes, weird as it may sound), download the proper downgrader for v.3.5 and watch the video above (via Maxconsole) for instructions. Still stuck? Oh, dear. Try this link then.

Tuesday, June 26, 2007

I've already mentioned the brilliant from the gutter blog, and apparently I'm mentioning it again. Why, I hear you ask. Well, because this time there's a lovely 35-pages long PDF guide on running those lovelier Nintendo DS homebrew and freeware games, apps and emulators, which you can freely download here. Oh, and it's aimed at the NDS homebrew beginners, too. Lovely indeed.

Sony started its devastating attack against our ears over 20 years ago with the release of the legendary Walkman, went on to produce a variety of ultra powerful portable sound devices, apparently felt bad with itself and ended up marketing a handheld games console (that's the Sony PSP silly) that just isn't loud enough. Enter the devious Mr. Gameunreal from the PSPmod forums and his How to make your Sony PSP heaqdphones louder guide. You know, just to make sure hearing aid companies will never starve and games sound as the Devil himself intended them too... LOUD!

Sunday, June 24, 2007

It's been over 20 years since the first Game Boy and we still haven't seen a proper Dungeons and Dragons RPG solely created to be played and enjoyed on a handheld. Besides The Eye of the Beholder for the Atari Lynx, that is, even though it was in essence a PC port. Anyway, Kuju and Atari think they spotted a chance there and will soon release the very promising, very D&D, absolutely beardy and 100% turn-based Dungeons & Dragons: Tactics for the Sony PSP.

See the screenshots above? Nice aren't they? Gamepro has dozens more, and Eurogamer more than a couple extra ones happily mixed with gameplay and promo videos. Oh, and to read a pretty informative interview with the game's developers click your way (once again) to Eurogamer.

Saturday, June 23, 2007

THQ, developers of the Dawn of War instant classic, have now decided to bring the war-ravaged 41st millennium to handhelds worldwide, in the guise of Warhammer 40,000: Squad Command. The game, soon to appear on both the Sony PSP and the Nintendo DS platforms, will be a turn-based strategical affair featuring both a strong single-player campaign and quite a few multiplayer options. What's more, THQ have already got a pretty informative site up (DS version here), where you should be able to learn all about the game's 3D graphics and destructible environments, as well as read stuff along the lines of:

Gamers play as the elite Space Marines of the Ultramarines chapter and strive to combat the encroaching evil of the ruthless and daemonic influenced Chaos Space Marines through 13 cinematically-tied missions. With a robust multiplayer mode featuring 9 unique missions, gamers will team up and go head-to-head with other gamers worldwide as either the Imperium of Man or Chaos Space Marines, ensuring hours of unique replayability.

Wednesday, June 20, 2007

So, you are all sucked into the dangerously addictive turn-based Advance Wars: Dual Strike time-sink, feel pretty stuck, but don't really want to pay for Nintendo's Official Player's Guide? Can't blame you really. Not when the excellent IGN Advance Wars DS Guide is freely available here, NeoSeeker'swalkthrough/FAQ compilation is here and dirty cheats can also be easily obtained.

Game Boy Advance free games frankly aren't that usual and admittedly I haven't found any simple way of enjoying them other than through a GBA emulator. You, on the other hand, hopefully being less of a sloth, could try a truly easy to use and rather cheap GBA Flash Card and take your free games on the road, either on your GBA or your NDS.

Now, to find said free games you'd better follow the link to Quirky's GBA Remakes. There, you'll be able to download some brilliant retro remakes of classics like Elite, Rogue, The Lords of Midnight, Castle Master, Cyclone and Doomdark's Revenge. Oh, and their source code is freely available too. For a less remade retro freebie on your handheld you can always go for a nice Berzerk GBA port.

Tuesday, June 19, 2007

Sony PSP users just can't get enough freebies these days, so here's a lovely site offering over 700 hundred PSP wallpapers for absolutely free. Themes range from Star Wars, to Lost, to various cartoon characters you might be aware of, to video games, to cars, to landscapes.

from the gutter is one of the select few blogs I regularly read and one of rare quality indeed. It really is. Really. Features some mighty impressive writing too. Oh, but you must absolutely visit it dear readers. I mean, really, really visit it. It's even got 2 excellent free homebrew games and 2 freeware music thingies for your Nintendo DS: Perilous Wheels, Light Bikes, Strum me and mymelods. Get them all here.

Sunday, June 17, 2007

I know a game as fast-paced and grand as God of War doesn't sound like it would ever feel right on your average mobile phone, but it seems that SOE have actually done it. God of War: Betrayal, according to a brilliant destructoid hands-on preview at least, seems like a genuinely enjoyable little game worth waiting for. Now, if you haven't done so, do watch the video I've lovingly posted for your eyes only... It's probably all the proof one might ever need.

Friday, June 15, 2007

As regular readers of this esteemed blog will know, I recently became royally pissed off with Resident Evil DS and its crippling lack of save points. Despite being a great game, it finally frustrated me so much, that I traded it in, with the intention of getting a game as far from Resident Evil as I could find...

This turned out to be Phoenix Wright: Ace Attourney. Produced by Capcom, this game really is a unique and innovative title. Playing somewhere between an interactive cartoon or novel, you assume the role of rookie lawyer Phoenix 'Nick' Wright. (Although Phoenix is as much sleuth as he is 'legal eagle'.)

Assisted by a supporting cast of colourful allies and villains, Phoenix has to solve, five individual cases that somehow inter-link with each other... Before any courtroom drama ensues, Phoenix has to investigate the circumstances of each case, solving puzzles, looking for clues and collecting evidence.

He then has to dissect this evidence in court and challenge his nemesis, Prosecuting Attourney Miles Edgeworth, in front of a bungling judge. Like all good crime stories there are many twists and turns, surprises and shocks. The whole affair has a great deal of humour, generated by the quirky characters. Whilst all verbal exchanges appear as text, slapstick sound effects and the bang of the judges 'gavel' at crucial moments, give the game an ambiance of 'cartooniness'.

Two phrases that are spoken regularly during the game however, are "OBJECTION!" and "Take That!", which can be shouted into the DS microphone during tense courtroom moments.

The pace of the game is just right, and one of the best features is that you can (hear this Capcom!) save at any time!

The features of the DS are fully utilised, so there is lots of rubbing, pointing and moving objects with the stylus, whilst the previously mentioned shouting into the mic is eclipsed by the blowing off of fingerprint dust, when investigating a crime scene! The two screens are utilised very well indeed (see screenshots...)

The visuals are another great feature of the game... A series of still images and facial expressions, rapidly inter-changed make for simple animation. The style of drawing of characters is slightly 'manga', but also like Western cartoons.

This game was the perfect antidote to that 'othergame'. For any of you DS owners out there, that feel like refreshing change and unique gaming experience, this is a must buy. Highly recommended!

Secret Files: Tunguska, a rather interesting mystery point-and-click adventure already available for the PC (learn about the game's demo here), will soon appear on the adventure friendly Nintendo DS platform (ok, the Wii too). Interested? Good. See some screenshots and read the detailed news.

Think the title covered almost everything I had to say, really... Now, just click here for the lovely Japanese Phantom Hourglass official site. In case you didn't notice, it's a Nintendo DS game, it is.

Thursday, June 14, 2007

Glu, a major publisher in the phone gaming arena, will apparently be bringing the Tranformers franchise to our mobiles ...uh... transformed into a game. Into a heavy on action (and turning into a car) platformer based on the forthcoming Tranformers movie game, to be precise. According to the press release:

The TRANSFORMERS mobile game challenges players to play as OPTIMUS PRIME to help the AUTOBOTS find the Allspark, a source of energy hidden on Earth. As players fight as OPTIMUS PRIME and convert from vehicle to robot and back again with special weapons, they battle the rivaled DECEPTICONS across 20 different levels, enlisting the help of other AUTOBOTS on the way.

Wednesday, June 13, 2007

Could have been one of the best handheld games ever, but it simply wasn't meant to be. Diablo himself decided to stay un-portable. Shame, really, as this classic dungeon hack is just made for quick gameplay burst. Ahh, anyway. Watch the video and find out more about this Diablo tech demo over at the fantastic Past to Present blog.

Saturday, June 09, 2007

See? The hotly anticipatedCrush (dev: Kuju, pub: Sega) puzzle game, in which gamers repeatedly crush a 3D world and guide a platforming insomnia-suffering kid around imaginative levels, has been released, and it's bloody brilliant. At least according to metacritic, it is. Gametrailers doesn't seem to disagree either... Here's their excellent video review:

Thursday, June 07, 2007

It must have been ages ago when GGoG first mentioned the VCsp Atari 2600 mod. Anyway, as nobody is counting, let me introduce you all to VCsp version 5.1. The latest offering in the not-so-crowded Atari 2600 based handhelds market, sporting a 3.5" colour TFT screen and running on a mere 4 AA batteries.

See the picture above? Nice. Now, click here to find out more, get some modding instructions or even buy one of them handmade retro gaming consoles for roughly 300$. Pitfall on the go anyone?

Sunday, June 03, 2007

AtariAge, the definitive website of all things Atari and one of the most impressive retro gaming websites I've ever encountered, sports -not unexpectedly, I must admit- a pretty brilliant Atari Lynx section. What's more, said section happens to feature a full colour 32-pages long Atari Lynx IIcatalog, detailing the more important Lynx games, showcasing the console and beyond reasonable doubt proving the Lynx was the best colour handheld ever devised until the DS. Have a look.

Friday, June 01, 2007

Enough is enough! Having spent (literally) a day playing through RE DS (and restarting AGAIN and AGAIN), I've decided that I'm not going to spend any more time on RE DS! I beat a couple of bosses today, slaughtered several hundred zombies and a good few Hunters, uncovered a new area of the Spencer Mansion, and then was offed mercilessly without being able to save a second's progress!

That's cos the "Resident" "Evil" has nothing to do with Zombies or Horror... Its the lack of fucking save potential!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Why should I spend tedious hours replaying stages of an "impossible to complete" DS game when I've got LITERALLY hundreds of more forgiving titles to play through on other consoles? *Shakes fist at Capcom*

At least I've found the resolve to sack it off without being drawn in for one last attempt...

But when they come up with advertisements like the two examples below, you kind of decide they deserve their fate...

The Sega Game Gear is a nice piece of kit... Admittedly, it's best feature is the TV peripheral (which makes it the smallest portable TV available in the early nineties...) But HEY! It's like the PSP's massive Grandad!

But, trying to win points with the Viz generation in such a crap and unfunny way makes me weep.

Sega! Look at the advertising campaigns that you gave to our Japanese brothers and sisters... And don't EVER, EVER subject us to shit like this again...

BTW These horrendous artefacts were lifted from the excellent UK:Resistance website... Check it out!